Take Control of Your Food Environment

Let me tell you a story about Rebecca*. Perhaps you can relate to her experience…

Rebecca has gained some weight over the winter. First, there were the holidays. Then, when they finally ended with the New Year and she was ready to work on losing 10 pounds, she hurt her foot and had to stop exercising to allow it to heal. At this point, her clothes are feeling tight and she thinks she’s up to 15 lbs. gained — but it’s tough to get on that scale to know for sure.

So, Rebecca decides to cut back and really start saying “no” to high calorie foods to get her weight back down. Here’s a look at the first day of her “willpower" diet:

She brings her breakfast to work with the best intentions to eat right. Uh-oh! One of her co-workers has brought in bagels and cream cheese as a treat for the office. “I’ll just have half of one — they’re huge!” But she ends up eating the whole bagel because it’s so good.

At lunch, the gang convinces her to go to their favorite Mexican restaurant. Out comes the chips and salsa for the table. She resists, resists, resists, resists…finally, her taco salad comes, but it’s in a fried tortilla bowl, and covered in cheese. No time to send it back. She eats half the salad, the whole tortilla bowl, then…finishes off the chips that were left on the table.

After work, she has to stop for gas. There’s a huge display right at the register – M&M’s are on sale – buy 1 get 1 free. She buys two bags – for her kids – but eats both bags in the car on the way home. At this point, Rebecca decides to start her diet over again tomorrow morning. She just knows it’ll be a “better” day than today was.

You may be thinking that Rebecca has no self-control. She’s probably thinking the same thing. What she may not realize is that, according to research, her behavior is normal. Our brains are wired to “light up” when we eat high-calorie food. We can’t resist because our tendency is to go for the immediate reward of the great-tasting food, rather than hold ourselves back for the longer range reward of weight loss. Historically, this worked for us when portions were much smaller, food was available less often, and we were exercising a lot more. Knowing our brains are hard-wired this way, it makes sense that dieting will power will only get you so far, until you become overwhelmed by all the choices you have to make, and before you know it, you’re off track and ready to give up.

It’s not hopeless, but in order to be thinner and healthier, we need to proactively control our environments as much as possible, in order to be faced with less food choices on a regular basis.

• One way to do that is to load up our environments with the foods that support us.
• I live by the mantra, “If it’s there, I’ll eat it,” so my house and office are always full of healthy, low-calorie fruits and vegetables—fresh, frozen, and canned—along with meal replacements.
• I also bring low-calorie foods and drinks along with me whenever I’m running around doing errands or when I’m traveling.
• Always having low-calorie foods on hand that support my weight and health goals help me avoid the higher calorie foods that are everywhere. I save calories (and money!), and can enjoy the special treats I choose to have once in a while.
   

What are some specific ways you have set up your home or work environments to support your weight management?

*Name changed for privacy.
 

by NancyA on 04/10/2013 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: Weight-Loss, motivation, mood, strategies